Ramphocaenus melanurus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The trilling gnatwren (Ramphocaenus melanurus), formerly long-billed gnatwren, is a very small bird in the gnatcatcher family. It found from southeast Mexico south to Ecuador and Amazonia. The trilling gnatwren was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1819 from a specimen collected in Brazil. He coined the binomial name Ramphocaenus melanurus. The genus name Ramphocaenus means "unusual beak", from the Ancient Greek rhamphos (ῥάµϕος, "beak") and cænos (καινός, "strange"). The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek melas "black" and oura "tail". A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that two subspecies of Ramphocaenus melanurus formed a separate clade. The subspecies were split off to become the chattering gnatwren and the English name of this species was changed from "long-billed gnatwren" to "trilling gnatwren".
Thirteen subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 3 | Valencia | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 4 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 6 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Long-billed Gnatwren sighting in Rincón de la Vieja National Park on a given day, based on 206 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 58th most-seen of the 341 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Long-billed Gnatwren in Rincón de la Vieja National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January–March, July and November, the lowest months. Those are among Rincón de la Vieja National Park's wettest months, with about 300 mm of rain a month against 45 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-billed Gnatwren sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 54
Of the 54 parks where we can rate Long-billed Gnatwren sightings, Rincón de la Vieja National Park ranks 11th at about 20%. The best odds are in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 40%), Pico Bonito National Park (Honduras, about 30%) and Santa Rosa National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Polioptilidae
The closest relatives of the Long-billed Gnatwren that you can see in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (family Polioptilidae, Gnatcatchers and Gnatwrens) are White-lored Gnatcatcher (about 20%) and Tropical Gnatcatcher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-billed Gnatwren is recorded against all the birds logged in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (206 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
